


O Romeo, Romeo!

by paxatonic



Series: teachers au [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Romeo and Juliet References, Shakespeare Quotations, Teacher Tony, english teacher steve, idoiots in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 09:58:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11895327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxatonic/pseuds/paxatonic
Summary: Steve's class is reading Romeo and Juliet, and he's assigned them all scenes form the play to perform at the end of the unit. To give examples of speech and metering, he'd acquired the help of Physics teacher Tony Stark across the hall, who is extremely willing to play Juliet.





	O Romeo, Romeo!

**Author's Note:**

> hi I probably put too much Shakespeare in here, it should be all my own writing but heyyyYYY WHY NOT kms

 

Steve crossed his arms and sighed as he looked over the small groups of students, reciting lines straight from the sheet in a very stiff manner. It had only been a few minutes since he’d divided them up and he was already cringing, and he could tell it wasn’t going to get better.

“No, stop, stop.” He called out, waving his hand. The class came to a slow stop as they looked up at him. “Not to be mean, but you’re all terrible.” A low laughter rumbled across the class and he smiled at them. “Sorry, but this is definitely not what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote it.”

“Well, you know, we didn’t even get as much as an example.” Michelle rolled her eyes.

“Right, that’s probably good.” Steve returned to the front of the room. “I’ll play the part of Romeo, and I will be needing a Juliet.”

Almost every girl’s hand shot up, with a few smug boys putting their hands up to mock them. Or because they genuinely wanted to. Steve looked awkwardly around, not wanting to let a raving student up. He glanced out the door, his eyes landing on the teacher in the class opposite his. Tony Stark.

Smiling, he held a hand up to his class and walked across the hall to the other classroom, currently empty except for Tony and his monitor Peter, both tinkering with their own projects.

He knocked softly on the door frame. “Hey, Stark.”

The man’s head popped up. “Huh? Oh, hey, Rogers.” He set down his screwdriver and wiped his hands on a rag. “What’s up?”

“Do you like Shakespeare?”

“It made for a great lullaby when I was in highschool.” He shrugged. “Put me right to sleep. More of a tech guy.”

“So you  _ wouldn’t  _ be interested in demonstrating a scene with me?”

Now see, Tony was really good at reading people, especially when someone was hiding an emotion. When he looked up, surprised, he could see the way Steve bit his lip and leaned in a little further that meant this was, strangely, important to him. Tony was also having a really hard time disappointing him.

“I would love to.” He blurted, causing Steve to smile before he could regret it.

“Great. Come along, my fair juliet.” Wait,  _ juliet- _ ? “You can come, too, Peter. I think there’s a minor speaking role for you.” Then he disappeared out the door before either could say a word.

Tony looked to his young student and shrugged, getting up and following over to the other classroom. Steve handed them both scripts and Tony rolled his eyes as he skimmed over the lines. “This one, really?”

“It’s famous for a reason.” He turned to the class, “now I’m not expecting full on dramatic readings, but you’ve gotta try and make it sound a little natural. It’s not hard to pick up on the cues shakespeare writes in for you, with full stops and pauses in periods and commas.  _ But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she _ . See? Not that hard.”

Tony gaped at the other man. Those are the first lines. He didn’t even look at the page. “You memorized that?”

Steve looked at him. “Uh, yeah.” He shrugged. “I kind of know this scene in and out. Anyways, you ready? At the beginning of this scene Romeo’s sort of admiring from a distance from within the garden, and Juliet is on the balcony. Just skip down to your first line.”

“Right.” Tony cleared his throat and sighed, “ _ ay, me! _ ”

“ _ She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head, _ ” Steve spoke looking right at Tony and he was shaking under the other man’s gaze. Should they be closer? They should be closer. Probably holding hands. “ _ As is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white-upturned wondering eyes of mortals that fall back to gaze on him when he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds and sails upon the bosom of the air _ .”

Tony stared, still gaping slightly. Eventually Peter cleared his throat and Tony tore his eyes away and to his paper. “ _ O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? _ ” He shifted awkwardly and spoke slowly, “ _ Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet. _ ”

They continued the scene, eventually starting a direct dialogue, and Tony was so focused on not missing his lines that he didn’t notice Steve coming closer as he “climbed” to the balcony.

“ _ I would not for the world they saw thee here. _ ” Tony stared at the paper.

“ _ I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes, _ ” Tony jumped as Steve placed his hands on Tony’s forearms, “ _ but thou love me? Let them find me here; my life were better ended by their hate than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. _ ”

“ _ B-By whose direction found'st thou out this place? _ ” Tony stuttered.

“ _ By love,”  _ Steve moved even closer, “ _ that first did prompt me to enquire. _ ”

Tony lost track of the rest of the next words coming from Steve’s mouth as he admired the color of his eyes. He’d never been this close to them before, never able to quite distinguish the mix of blues that seemed simply captivating now. Then his eyes traveled down and found the man’s mouth, which was no longer moving. Wait, what was his line?

Thank god for Peter Parker. “Um,” the boy coughed awkwardly, “nurse calls from within,” he says in monotone.

“Bravo,” Michelle whispers and he shoots her a look.

Tony scrambles to find the lines, having skipped over a large section. “Uh,  _ I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu! Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again.  _ ”

He reluctantly tore himself away from Steve as an “exit.” Steve turned back to the class and spread his arms. “ _ O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard. Being in night, all this is but a dream, too flattering-sweet to be substantial. _ And, ah, blah blah blah, a thousand goodnights, I would I were thy bird, my dear hap to tell.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “I think you guys get the point.”

Looking around, the students were silent and actually invested, which could very well be a first for tenth grade english. Suddenly they erupted into applause, causing both teachers to be taken aback.

“There’s no need for that.” Steve smiled shyly and shrugged, turning to Tony. “I guess we were pretty good, huh? Maybe you can be my permanent Juliet.”

“I’d be honored.” Tony tilted his head and bowed a little with a smile. “Come on, Pete. Back to work. See you later, Steve.” He waved as the two of them left the classroom, Steve’s eyes glued to the back of his head.

 

Over the next two weeks of the unit the groups of students practiced their selected scenes, almost each class period demanding that Steve and Tony give another example, reading an excerpt aloud. Some were longer, some were more dramatic, but it seemed they always chose scenes where it was just them, they were Romeo and Juliet, and they could touch each other.

Steve spoke quickly and eloquently, having memorized all the lines in college, and often had to remind himself to slow it down for the students. Tony fumbled a lot in the start, but slipped into it nicely, and became comfortable with the role and language. One day he tried to slip in a little bit of accent, claiming he was trying to be “authentic,” but he didn’t get very far before the whole class was laughing, him and Steve included.

The two also started spending more time outside of class. Their “hang outs” generally started with Tony arriving at Steve’s office door with coffee and pastries, like he was now.

Tapping his foot against the open doorframe he caught Steve’s attention, holding out the box of donuts and tray with their coffee. “You’re gonna kill yourself working so hard.”

Steve dropped his pen onto his desk and made grabby hands. Tony smiled and pulled up a chair up besides him. Tony’s eyes caught on a stray script, picking it up as Steve tore into the box of donuts.

“Is this our next performance, dear Romeo?” He scanned the first few lines.

“No-” Steve mumbled, swallowing. “It’s actually a scene a couple of students were supposed to do but one of them is going on vacation with their family so I told them they could perform after school yesterday.” He frowned. “They did great, but… I just really wish I could have had them perform in front of the class. I want the kids to see as many scenes as possible.” He picked at the half-eaten donut in his hands. “It’s not like we can do the whole play, and… The scene is a favorite of mine. I would’ve liked them to see it.”

Tony blinked. “Why don’t we do it then?” He paused, Steve looking up at him. “We’ve already done half the play for them already. What’s another scene?”

“Yeah, well, those were all on the spot.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck. “The kids have been practicing for weeks, it’d be kind of unfair to go up and half-ass it when they all tried really hard.”

“Well, come on, let’s practice, then.” Tony stood from his chair, setting his coffee down and walking around the desk. “Right now. Come on.”

Steve stood slowly from the chair and walked around the desk to face Tony. “Maybe you should read through it first.”

“I like the challenge” Tony shrugged. “Just start us off, alright?”

Steve sighed and cleared his throat, grabbing Tony’s free hand. “ _ If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. _ ”

“ _ Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss _ .” Tony looked up at Steve with a smile, nailing the words.

“ _ Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? _ ” Steve bit his lip and looked off to the side, understanding the words a lot more than Tony did. Shit.

“ _ Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. _ ” 

“ _ O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. _ ” Abort. Abort. Abort. 

“ _ Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. _ ” Tony licked his lips and Steve tracked the movement. ABORT. ABORT. ABORT.

“ _ Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take. _ ”

Tony finally reached the next line, eyes widening. Steve sighed and let his hand go limp, getting ready to pull away. “We don’t have to do that part, or and of it-”

Suddenly Steve couldn’t speak because oh, Tony was kissing him, how did that happen?

Steve wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist and pulled them closer, Tony running his hands through Steve’s hair. Steve was about to deepen the kiss when Tony pulled away and for a moment they gazed at each other.

Then Tony raised the script, still in his hand, and read off the page, “ _ thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged _ .”

“That’s my line,” Steve said, breathless.

“Yeah, well,  _ you  _ were supposed to kiss  _ me _ , Romeo.” Tony tore himself away, smoothing a hand over his shirt. “So, uh, yeah. Fun stuff. Maybe you were right; the kids have practiced a lot, we’d just upset the whole… vibe. See you later.” He nodded and swiftly left the room, leaving behind the food and coffee he’d brought, as well as Steve who now stood alone, confused, and a little sad.

 

Steve had his hands together in front of his face as he watched the student performance. It was, by far, the best he’d seen today. He knew Michelle would be good; she’d taken on the role of Romeo, and had somehow convinced Peter to guest star as Juliet, in full drag. Not a single other student had dressed up.

Steve was supposed to be making notes on the rubric for later, but he couldn’t focus on it. All he could think about was Tony, and how he’d run out just yesterday. He’d also been avoiding Steve all day, from the parking lot to the teacher’s lounge to now, where he avoided being in front of the door to his class at all costs.

“ _ Thus, with a kiss, I die, _ ” Michelle said dramatically and Steve huffed. Isn’t that the truth.

He zoned out for a moment as Peter finished up and died in the least captivating way a person can die. Steve doodled parts of Tony on his notebook beneath the rubric- eyes, hands, lips…

The class erupted into applause dispersed with laughter as Peter tripped over his dress getting up, snapping Steve out of it. He stood and went to the front of the class as the two returned to their seats, Peter sitting on the floor by Michelle's desk, as he wasn't in the class.

“Alright, guys, that was great. All of your performances were great; expect pretty high grades all around. To wrap up I want each of you to write about a paragraph reflection, just a couple of sentences on how your understanding has changed over the course of the...”

As Steve was speaking, out of the corner of his eye, Tony had left his classroom, paused, and continued into Steve’s with a determined look on his face. Steve trailed off as Tony took his face into his hands and kissed him, Steve immediately kissing back. It was a short and intense kiss, and Steve was going in for another when Tony pulled away but there man began talking.

“My anxiety gets in the way of my happiness a lot. Too much. I don't know why anyone would like me, or wanna be near me, or with me. But I like you. A lot. So I'm gonna get over myself and tell you that because it's not a bad thing.”

Steve paused, then smiled, eyes flicking towards the students. Tony slowly turned and looked at them awkwardly, looking back. “um, yeah, I probably should've done his earlier. I've just been pacing in my room all day and, uh-”

“I like you.” Steve blurted. “I like you a lot.”

Tony looked surprised for a moment, then he smiled, bringing Steve down to kiss him again. “Okay,” he said as he pulled away, “I really have to go now. We’ll talk after school.”

“Okay.” Steve bit his lip and watched Tony go. “Hey!”

Tony turned, standing in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“I like you.”

Tony grinned. “I like you too, Romeo.”

Steve watched Tony until he disappeared back into his classroom, turning back to the class. They were all staring at him. Shit.

“I personally liked Shakespeare’s ending better.” Michelle shrugged

“They both died.” Peter squinted at her.

“Exactly.”

 


End file.
